


LOVE, MAINTENANCE

by GoodyearTheShippyCat



Category: Starfighter (Comic)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Blow Jobs, Blushing, Enthusiastic Consent, First Meetings, First Time, Getting to Know Each Other, Grinding, Hand Jobs, Kissing, M/M, Making Out, Mutual Masturbation, Oral Sex, Rare Pairings, Slice of Life, Smut, Space Opera, Teasing, jumpsuits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 07:17:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19421116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodyearTheShippyCat/pseuds/GoodyearTheShippyCat
Summary: Working late, Ethos meets a member of the crew he’d never had the pleasure of being acquainted with before. And what a pleasure it is.





	LOVE, MAINTENANCE

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 1 of the Starfighter Summer Challenge I’ve chosen to go with the “Slice of Life (Sleipnir)” theme. Here, have some office romance. If your office is a spaceship... 
> 
> The title is a last minute addition, inspired by [tardigradedeathposture](https://tardigradedeathposture.tumblr.com/)’s incredibly topical and hilariously amazing [piece of art](https://tardigradedeathposture.tumblr.com/post/185945744386/day-1-slice-of-life-this-is-always-at-the-back-of) also posted for the theme today!

The halls of the navigators’ levels on the ship were fairly quiet at this hour. Night shift was smaller, and it was around the time they would be eating their lunch in the mess hall, anyway. It had been a long day—and evening—already, but Ethos knew he couldn’t sleep just yet. He needed to put the finishing touches on this report and submit it before morning. Lieutenant Keeler was depending on him, and would be using his results as part of some briefing materials for a meeting with Command first thing tomorrow. There was no way he’d let the Lead Navigator down on such an important piece of work.

He’d been so excited to be entrusted with the decryption and translation of an entire batch of recent, top-secret Colteron transmissions. Which, of course, meant he had been working overtime to make sure everything was perfect. He wanted to prove he’d earned his new security clearance.

As Ethos turned the corner towards the lab his workstation was located in, he was surprised to see someone already standing by the door. A member of the maintenance crew wearing coveralls rolled up to the elbows was staring in confusion at the panel on the wall.

“Umm, excuse me, but is there a problem with the door?” asked Ethos, concerned he wouldn’t be able to access the files he needed.

“Oh, hi! I don’t suppose you’d be able to help me get into this room here? I, uh, kind of forgot the entry code,” said the maintenance worker, scratching at the back of his head with one gloved hand, “Normally I’d just page Wedge, but he called in sick tonight and I didn’t want to wake him.”

“Ah, okay,” said Ethos, holding back a sigh of relief. He looked closer and realized that the other man didn’t have a toolbox on him. Just a bucket of cleaning supplies sitting by one foot, and a static-capture broom leaning up against the wall. 

He keyed in the code to the lab, saying it aloud at the same time so the worker could make note in case he needed to go in and out again during his shift.

“Thanks so much! You’re a real lifesaver!” said the man, following him in, “I’ve never been assigned to clean this deck before, and so many of the rooms are locked down. I guess because of all the important stuff you guys have on these workstations.”

“Oh, no problem,” replied Ethos, “I know it, uh, took me a while to memorize all the access codes around here, and I’m sure you must need to remember a lot more of them!”

He smiled up at the maintenance worker, who was surprisingly tall when he stood up straight. He was a similar height to Praxis, if a fair bit lankier-looking. The other man couldn’t have been too different from him in age, either. Though he had more obvious dark circles under his eyes, probably from the shift work schedule.

“Do you need me to show you around?”

“Nah, should be good now that I’m in,” said the worker as he set down his bucket of supplies on the other side of the door and started digging through them.

Ethos watched him for a moment, transfixed by the way his light auburn mop of hair fell over his face. He only realized he was still standing there awkwardly when the other man looked over at him while straightening up again.

“Oh, uhhh, great. Umm, my name’s Ethos. If you need anything, I’ll just be, uh, over there. At that workstation,” he mumbled, looking away and vaguely pointing in the direction he was already beginning to walk in.

“Great, thanks Ethos!”

Hearing that, he turned back around.

“Oh! Sorry! But what’s your name?”

“Huh? It’s Vicks,” he said, looking slightly quizzical but smiling nonetheless.

His smile was kind of lopsided and made him look even cuter. Ethos could feel heat creep up the back of his neck.

“I um… I guess we should both get down to work. Nice to meet you, Vicks.”

“Yeah, maybe… Nice to meet you, too, though.”

Ethos went over to his workstation in earnest this time, determined to finish his report. But suddenly transmission translations seemed far less interesting than they’d been earlier that day. His brain was apparently elsewhere, and it quickly became obvious where. Ethos realized that he’d heard of a ‘Vicks’ on the ship before. Everyone talked about him like he was some black market mogul who could procure just about anything you asked for. And some things you might not even think to ask for.

The unassuming, friendly maintenance worker he’d just met didn’t seem anything like Ethos had imagined this storied character at all.

He kept finding himself distracted by the man moving about the room, bending over to clean surfaces. The maintenance worker’s long limbs clearly getting more work done than his own fingers were. Sometimes Vicks would start softly humming snatches of tunes Ethos recognized from back home, making him want to sing along.

He clamped down on the impulse and tried to concentrate on his work instead. He couldn’t let any mistakes slip through on this. It was too important.

It took longer than he’d estimated; unable to maintain focus for long, drawn back to watching Vicks as he moved around the lab, broom in hand. Once it was finally finished and the encrypted file sent off to Keeler over the intranet, Ethos shut down his workstation.

“You finished in here for the night?”

He looked in the direction the question had come from and saw Vicks picking up various supplies he’d left scattered around the room in the course of his cleaning. Apparently he was finished, too—rather fortuitous timing.

“Oh! Yes, I turned in my report,” he said, pushing in the chair and walking over to the door, Vicks falling in beside him as their paths converged, “Where are you headed next?”

“Just up the hall,” said Vicks, gesturing with a nod towards the left of the door. It was the same way Ethos needed to walk to get to the elevator again.

“I’ll walk you there,” he ventured, stomach fluttering when he got another smile in response.

“You’re just worried I’ll be locked out again, huh?”

“N- no! No, of course not. It’s just, um… I’m heading this way…”

“Relax, I’m just teasing,” said Vicks, sounding sincere.

As they approached the next door, which lead into a large conference room, Ethos slowed his pace. Vicks’ longer stride got him to the panel first, and he entered the code correctly the first time, door sliding open with a quiet _whoosh_.

“See? I’m not totally incompetent!” he said with a wink, before picking up his bucket of supplies again.

“I- I never thought you were! I promise,” said Ethos, flustered.

“Ha, no, you were super nice,” he replied, continuing to talk as he entered the room, “I was surprised when you talked to me, actually.”

“But… why?” asked Ethos, following him in, wanting to know more.

“Most Navigators just look right through me like I don’t even exist, like the maintenance crew is just another part of the ship around them,” he replied with a shrug.

“Oh! But that would be so rude!”

“They’re so wrapped up in their important work, I guess…” Vicks said as he rummaged around in his bucket of supplies again.

Ethos came to a realization.

“I, oh no… I hope it didn’t seem like I was ignoring you earlier! I, um, I was a bit preoccupied. Sorry.”

“Huh? No worries,” replied Vicks, straightening up with a spray bottle and cloth in hand, “Clearly a lot going on in that big brain. You were really nice to help me out in the first place.”

He wandered over to the conference table and started to spray it down. Ethos just stood there by the door, unsure what to say next.

 _Say something! Anything!_ he internally chastised himself, _Why am I always so unbearably awkward? Why can’t I just—_

“I should be good, now,” said Vicks as he cleaned, interrupting Ethos’ stream of thought, “No need to stay if you’re finished with your work, as nice as it is to have the company. I’m sure you must be tired.”

He was right, it was getting late, and Ethos has to be up for VR training in the sim rigs right after the fighter’s morning PT session. But he didn’t feel sleepy—probably still too excited from the thrill of finishing the most substantial report he’d independently authored since arriving on board the ship.

“Well, uh, I feel like my brain’s still going… and my fighter’s probably just falling asleep,” he said, “If you don’t mind, maybe I can stay a while longer? I, ummm, I like having someone to talk to until I get sleepy.”

“No complaints here,” Vicks said, looking over his shoulder with a toss of his messy locks, “I like having someone to talk with, too! It’s a nice change from Wedge. He’s always so grumpy.”

“Ah, good! As long as I’m not bothering you!”

“Nah, definitely not bothering me,” said the maintenance worker, walking back in his direction, “Maybe distracting me a little, but I’m not exactly handlin’ anything mentally taxing this shift.”

“O- oh… well, if you’re sure,” Ethos blurted out, frozen on the spot as Vicks went around him to where he’d left his supplies in the corner, “Umm, just let me know if I’m getting in the way.”

He felt something hit his feet and looked down. It was the head of the static-capture broom Vicks was now pushing along the floor.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem. As long as you don’t stand directly in the path of my broom, that is,” said Vicks, his tone playful.

“S- sorry!” Ethos said, quickly stepping aside, and back to the spot the broom had already passed over.

“Ha, don’t worry, you’re good.”

He watched as Vicks cleaned the perimeter of the room, eyes drawn to the exposed section of the man’s forearms between gloves and rolled sleeves. They flexed slightly when he changed the direction he was pushing the broom.

“Ummm, so, why did you decide to come work for the Alliance?” asked Ethos after a moment, still standing in place.

“Huh? Well, work wasn’t always steady back on Earth...” Vicks replied, looking up at him briefly, “Figured this was a sure bet, employment-wise. Military bein’ all uptight about keepin’ up appearances.”

“That does make sense.”

“Yup. All that glass, those sleek steel surfaces, and those shiny white suits don’t keep _themselves_ looking immaculate, y’know?”

“Ha! Uh, I guess they don’t, ha ha,” Ethos giggled, a little self-consciously.

“But mostly… well, for the adventure of it, I guess.”

“O- oh! Yeah?”

“’Course. Might never get another chance to see space, I figured,” Vicks said, almost wistfully, “Don’t come from money…”

Ethos tensed slightly. He didn’t think of his family as rich, but he knew that he was lucky to have the opportunities he’d had. He also knew that the gap between him and someone like Phobos wasn’t something that the colonists or even the maintenance workers on the _Sleipnir_ would bother distinguishing. They probably saw all the navigators as stuck up rich kids.

“—and I didn’t want to move to the colonies, from what I’d heard about ‘em from friends who left the planet earlier, lookin’ for a new start.”

Ethos didn’t really know what to say to any of that. It was so divorced from his life back on Earth. The war had been going on already once he’d graduated, and serving had just seemed like the natural choice given his aptitudes. The only time he’d ever thought of moving to the colonies was during a brief period where he’d considered becoming a teacher.

Vicks had stopped sweeping, and was staring out the small porthole observation window on the bulkhead.

Ethos crossed the room, being careful to only traverse areas which had already been cleaned. As he walked, he deliberated on what response he could give that wouldn’t seem clueless or trite. He was saved from his running thoughts by Vicks, who once again broke the silence which had fallen between them.

“I always did want to see the stars.”

“Really? Me, uh, me too.” Ethos’ gaze was focused on the slightly awed face of the maintenance worker he was now standing beside, rather than the view, as he responded.

Vicks turned his head, floppy auburn locks bouncing around his face. Having that bright, crooked smile directed at him, being the entire focus of those soft doe eyes... It was almost too much for Ethos, and he looked out the porthole instead.

“It must be even more amazing out in a Starfighter, huh?” asked Vicks.

“Uh, umm, yeah. I guess the view _is_ pretty incredible for training runs and scouting patrols…”

“Oh, right,” Vicks said with an uncomfortable little laugh, “I guess you’re too busy to stare at the scenery when you’re out there facing down Colteron ships.”

“Ha, definitely. I’m just lucky if I can keep my hands from shaking on the navigation orb sometimes!” replied Ethos, giggling nervously in turn, glancing back at the man beside him.

Vicks was frowning down at him, which cut his giggles short. It wasn’t a gloomy, dour frown like Praxis’, though. The maintenance worker’s dark, expressive brows scrunched together in something more like concern.

“Is it scary out there?” he began, fidgeting with the handle of the broom he hadn’t actually pushed around the room for some time, “Fighting the ‘Terons?”

“Well, uh, I’m not really the one doing the fighting,” Ethos joked, avoiding the question, “I just drive the ship.”

“Going on faith that your fighter is gonna hit them before they hit you… I’d think that’d make it even scarier, though.”

Ethos couldn’t meet those deep, searching eyes any longer. He turned to stare out the porthole once more, watching the tiny points of light scattered through inky black void. It took a moment for him to answer. His voice sounded as small as he felt, floating in the near-endless expanse of space aboard a comparatively minuscule vessel.

“…Yeah, it is. I- I guess I don’t really notice until I get back, though,” he said, words tumbling out too fast, “When the _Tiberius_ touches down on the deck of the hangar bay, it- it kind of all comes rushing out. The reality of making it back alive. How terrified I was underneath it all. I- I’m jittery for the rest of the day, every time. I keep wondering when I’ll get used to it… but, um, I never do.”

Long fingers curled gently over his shoulder, bringing his attention back to the man at his side.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re really brave,” Vicks said softly. 

“O- oh! No, I’m- I’m really not.”

“I couldn’t do it. I didn’t even like the shuttle ride to the station before being assigned to the _Sleipnir_! Too small and cramped, too claustrophobic. And a shuttle’s a lot bigger than a Starfighter!”

“I, uh, I mean… I’m just doing my job,” said Ethos, feeling a little hot around the ears. Though whether from embarrassment or the fact that his shoulder still felt tingly where Vicks had withdrawn his hand again, he couldn’t say. Instead he added, almost as an afterthought, “I knew what I was getting into when I enlisted.”

“Well I’m glad we’ve got smart, _brave_ guys like you out there protecting us.”

 _Is he coming on to me?_ wondered Ethos, looking up at an open, friendly face, _I guess we_ have _been hanging out for nearly half the night already._

He decided to screw up his courage and take a chance, stepping forward and rising up slightly onto the balls of his feet. Tipping his head up, he felt the brush of thin, slightly chapped lips against his own.

The maintenance worker’s breath smelled like toothpaste; mint mellowed with time. Ethos inhaled, catching notes of something else, something warm and indefinable which reminded him of home, of safety.

“See? I’m too much of a coward to have even tried that,” said Vicks as they separated again, “Without being sure you were interested, at least.” His hands remained where they’d touched down on the outside of Ethos’ arms, just above the elbows.

“Ummm, well, now you know I am.”

“Huh! You’re right. I guess I could try going in for another kiss, then.”

“I, uh, I think you should,” said Ethos, even as Vicks bent towards him, hands smoothing up the sides of his arms to settle around his shoulder blades as their mouths met once more.

The prominent end of Vicks’ nose bumped his own gently before he tilted his head to get closer. Their kiss deepened, and Ethos’ fingers clutching reflexively at the fabric of Vicks’ coveralls. He pulled the taller man closer, the heat of their bodies radiating in the space between their chests and transferring where their hips brushed. He could feel himself flush with pleasure.

“Mmmm, Ethos.”

Encouraged, Ethos flicked his tongue into the man’s slightly parted mouth. Vicks’ little noises of desire grew in volume, and Ethos felt the bulge at the front of his coveralls growing, too. Their tongues met and tangled, drawing his further into Vicks’ mouth, both of them starting to pant a bit.

Ethos let his hands wander; the fingers of one playing over a jutting collar bone, the other smoothing up a long, skinny neck to tangle in wavy hair. Vicks moaned, low and lusty. The sound went straight to Ethos’ dick, which was already straining at the front of his uniform. He dropped one arm to clutch the taller man’s hips, moving them against his own. They both gasped at the sensation.

“Maybe… if you want… we could take this somewhere more private?” Vicks asked, trying to talk while their mouths still worked against each other, breath coming quicker, “I know a place. It’s not far.”

“Mmm, sure,” Ethos replied, pulling away reluctantly and adjusting his waistband.

He would have been perfectly content to stay and see how creative they could get with the conference room furniture. Then supposed it was possible some night shift Navigators might come to use the room. Probably safer to go elsewhere.

Ethos looked over at the abandoned cleaning supplies as Vicks swiped the panel to open the door.

“I’ll come back for those,” he said, tugging a little at Ethos’ sleeve as he stepped into the hall.

He didn’t need any more convincing, following the man out.

As they walked down the corridor, Ethos couldn’t help noticing the way the front of Vicks’ coveralls tented. He felt his cheeks heat with a mixture of embarrassment and pride that the other man had decided to head out into the more public area in that state.

A state _he’d_ gotten him in.

After entering a maintenance tunnel a short distance away, they went down a ladder, Vicks’ hand on his back steadying him as he dropped the short distance to the ground from the end of it. Around another corner and behind a loose panel was a small, hidden alcove—perhaps once used for tool storage or access to a particular part of the ship’s systems. One of the thin bunk mattresses had been scrunched into the narrow space on the floor, angled upwards at the edges where it met the walls.

“How many other guys have you brought here?” asked Ethos, amused at the sight of the secret love nest.

Vicks looked at him a little sheepishly.

“Probably not as many as you’re thinking. Though I can’t speak for the other techs who know about it.”

Ethos looked down at the mattress more closely.

“Don’t worry, though! Rule is you change the sheet if you make a mess! It’s clean!”

“Oh! Sorry. I- I didn’t mean to, umm, offend you.”

“Ha, takes a lot more than that to offend me,” Vicks laughed, “Besides, it might be easy for one of you navigators to convince your fighter to go somewhere else for an hour or two, but we’ve got slightly different sleeping arrangements. Try coordinating with five other guys. Or worse yet, seven.”

“Ah, I hadn’t thought about that…” said Ethos, imagining how many awkward situations must arise and suppressing a shudder.

 _I’d never survive the embarrassment,_ he thought.

“Yeah, either you’re out of luck, or you’re accidentally the host of an orgy!”

Ethos couldn’t help the surprised jump of his eyebrows or the way his mouth opened in shock.

“Not that I would know from experience!” Vicks said quickly, “But you hear things through the grapevine, y’know.”

He took the lead and dropped onto the softer surface, tugging off his boots and tossing his gloves aside before leaning back, legs spread out in front of him. Ethos felt his breath catch at the sight. The taller man looked up at him with excitement obvious on his face. His hair seemed to glow bronze in the low light from the baseboard illumination strips, half hidden in places by the scrunched up edges of the flimsy mattress.

“You gonna join me?”

Ethos felt his heart hammering away in his chest as he knelt down on the edge of the mattress between Vicks’ legs. He licked his lips before pressing his hands into the top of the other man’s thighs, using them for support as he leaned forward. He felt long muscles jump under his touch, and rubbed his thumbs in little circles while he watched Vicks’ face. 

The maintenance worker’s breath had already picked up in anticipation as he looked back with something like hunger in his eyes.

Eyes which, staring into them up close, Ethos now realized weren’t uniformly dark the way he’d initially thought. Instead, they had two rings of colour—one an ochre-tinged warm brown, and the other a muddy green. So different from the eye colours he was used to seeing back on Earth, at least in the circles he travelled in. Or even from the colonists he’d seen since joining the Alliance, who tended towards a brown so deep it was almost black, depending on the light.

They were unusual and captivating.

He leaned in further for a kiss, light and gentle, but was quickly thrown off balance by Vicks pulling him closer. Long arms wrapped around his back. Forced him to shift his hands to either side of the other man’s hips. Their chests brushed, rising and falling quicker now.

Sloppy and hot, their mouths worked against each other with more desperation than earlier. Soft moans melded and dissolved into the space between them. Ethos let his hands wander to Vicks’ zipper.

“May I?”

A quick nod before the other man dove back in for another kiss was all the answer he got.

A low hiss as the jumpsuit zipper went down smoothly. The vibration of a slight shiver from the man beneath him. Rustling fabric falling away and exposing pale skin. The heat of it beneath his hands; burning hot relative to the atmosphere of the maintenance tunnels in this section of the ship.

Ethos gasped at the feeling of Vick’s legs hooking behind his knees, pulling him on top of the half-clad maintenance worker as he fell back onto the threadbare mattress. Then he had to hold back giggles as long, dextrous fingers worked the hidden clasps of his uniform jacket. It came undone so quickly and easily—like it was Vicks who had been wearing it each day rather than him. Ethos also shivered in the cool air as his shoulders were uncovered. Felt goosebumps pop up along his arms, and his nipples getting hard.

He looked down at the wanton figure beneath him. Watched the man’s eyes flutter shut and mouth open slightly as he ground against him, tracing slow, gyrating paths with his hips.

Vicks wasn’t muscled the way the fighters, or even many of the navigators, were. Maintenance staff only had minimal physical requirements to meet, Ethos knew. They basically just had to be fit enough to handle space travel. Vicks’ coveralls made him look bigger than he actually was. Undressed he was very lanky; almost scrawny, with bony shoulders and hip bones that stuck out.

Ethos bent over, placing long, sucking kisses in a trail down the man’s body. Along his neck, over a collarbone, between the wings of his ribs, and along the twitching plane of his stomach. When he reached the elastic of bright turquoise boxers—clearly not military issue—he looked up again. Vicks was staring back at him, biting his lip a little.

“Would you like me to…?”

“Fuck yes,” came the hastily exhaled answer.

Vicks’ hips bucked, just as excited, when Ethos ran a teasing hand over the outline of his cock through the fabric. He grasped the sides of the waistband elastic and the bunched up jumpsuit fabric, pulling them both down together. Ethos felt his pulse quicken as he saw the other man’s erection for the first time. Slightly longer than average, it lilted to the left a bit, rosy head coming to rest in the hollow of his hip.

Settling between Vicks’ legs, Ethos leaned in to nuzzle along the lines from hip to pelvis, not yet touching the prize between them. He kissed upwards, running the tip of his tongue lightly around Vicks’ belly button, watching the muscles beneath jump. His lips grazed along flesh, outlining his goal.

Ethos could hear tiny gasps from further up the mattress, felt Vicks buck under his palms. Probably a response to the stray, slightly curly ends of his hair dragging over the man’s cock as he continued tracing the skin around it. Teasing, unintentional touches he hadn’t even realized he was giving. He could see the effect, though. Vicks’ arousal bouncing slightly in time with his pulse. It was too tempting. Ethos gave up on his previous path, redirecting to exhale down the other man’s length. He kissed back up it, soft and open mouthed, letting his tongue slip out to taste the very tip.

The moan Vicks let out was all the encouragement Ethos needed, parting his lips and taking the other man in his mouth. Sinking down around his cock, overwhelmed by the intimate heat and the faintly sweaty musk of him, Ethos closed his eyes.

Forgetting translations, forgetting patrols—focused solely on this. The up and down motion of his head, maneuvering his tongue, the press at the back of his throat on each stroke.

He listened to the increasingly rapturous noises his attention was eliciting from Vicks. Occasionally looking up to meet hazel eyes, now mostly hidden by blown out pupils, dark and deep. When Vicks’ breathing had become ragged and his grip in Ethos’ hair nearly painful, Ethos lifted off him with a final kiss to the head of his cock.

Sliding back up the mattress in the narrow space, he raised his eyebrows suggestively and smiled. He hoped it would come across as suave rather than tinged with nervousness.

Ethos realized he hadn’t needed to worry as a very obviously turned on Vicks practically jumped him. They made out furiously as the maintenance worker pulled off his undershirt and began working at the zipper of his white uniform pants. Reluctantly, Vicks gave up on kissing for the moment and sat up to get better purchase as he pulled them down. Ethos tried to kick his boots off at the same time, desperate to lose the last of his clothing, so ready to match the other man’s nakedness. A moment of awkward shuffling later, they managed to get his pants off, underwear going with them.

Vicks fell on him almost immediately. No teasing preamble, just that sweet mouth around his dick.

“O- ohhhh!”

Ethos couldn’t complain, the relief of finally being touched so complete and all-consuming. The warmth of their bodies feeling doubly hot where they met was nothing compared to the liquid heat of Vicks’ tongue laving up and down him. The sight of his cock filling and stretching Vicks’ mouth was one he couldn’t tear his gaze from. He watched, enraptured, as the other man sucked, licked, and kissed his way up and down it.

Vicks’ hair reminded Ethos a little of his own—unruly as it was, falling in his face while he bounced his head up and down. It was a very pretty shade, fascinating in the way it changed so much depending on the light and surrounding colours.

 _I wonder if mine would look similar without the mods,_ thought Ethos, pondering what his natural shade would be if not for the artificially inserted blond alleles determining it.

However, it wasn’t long before such higher thought was lost completely to pleasure.

The mouth around him felt amazing, of course. But what surprised him most was how much he was enjoying the other man’s hand, wrapped around the base of his shaft. The perfect pressure, hold tight and then forgiving, in turn. Hard callouses added an intriguing texture to his grip, so different from Ethos’ own.

 _Oh god, his hand feels so good,_ Ethos thought with what little brain function he still had access to. There was no way he’d last much longer like this.

“Vicks, ahhh, come up hahhh-here,” he said around gasps, “ _Please_.”

The maintenance worker gave his cock one last, long lick—the flat of his tongue pressing against the underside deliciously—while giving him a look which almost had Ethos shooting off right then and there. Luckily he managed to hold back, a deep groan escaping him instead. When he opened his eyes again, he saw a cute, flushed face next to his own.

“Hey,” the word was spoken softly, a little scratchy.

Ethos rolled onto his side so their dicks bonked awkwardly together before settling alongside each other in the confined space between their bodies. He pulled Vicks’ head closer, fingers latching into the messy hair at the nape of his neck. He got lost in kissing him again. For just a moment, though, until the needy throbbing of his erection became too much to ignore. He guided the other man’s hand back to where it had been earlier, feeling long fingers close around him once again.

“Mmmm, one sec,” he said, halting the start of the stroke Vicks had been attempting.

Ethos hooked his thumb around Vicks’, scooping his fingers around the man’s cock and pulling it up against his own. Their hands closed around both together, and this time when Vicks began to stroke upward, Ethos followed his motion. They moved in tandem, grips matched, huffing breaths out between their barely touching lips as they did so.

“Nnnggh, Ethosss…”

“Ahhhh! Yessss!”

The slide of pre-come slicked heads against each other was intoxicating. Soft, slightly tacky foreskins moving up and down together, causing the occasional bit of friction between them. It quickly became too much for Ethos.

“Hahhh, Vicks… I’m, mmm, I’m gonna come,” he moaned, lips working clumsily against the other man’s as he felt himself build towards the point of no return.

“Nnnn, yeah, I’m close, too.”

Ethos barely got another kiss in before his mouth was occupied with groaning sweet release.

He spilled hot and sticky over their joined hands, making each stroke more slippery than before. He felt Vicks’ hand tighten and pace quicken, some purely reactive part of his brain responding in kind. He was awash in sensation; the grip of their hands pumping up and down, the warm panting breaths buffeting his face, the quickly mounting sensitivity as he came down from his orgasm.

Ethos almost felt like he might come again, or maybe start to cry from how overstimulated he was, when Vicks finally yelled his climax. A pulsing in his hand, and a fresh burst of warm wetness ran down his fingers, which could thankfully loosen again.

He panted a bit as he separated from the maintenance worker, flopping onto his back to catch his breath.

“So, what’s your name?”

Ethos was roused from his blissed out state by the question. Turning his head, he saw Vicks lying on his side just inches away, resting his head on one arm. Staring back at him with half-lidded eyes. Hair flopping everywhere, even messier than before.

“Huh?” Ethos would probably have been more startled by the sudden candour if he wasn’t still a little dopey post-orgasm.

“I mean.... It’s kinda weird calling you by your task name, y’know, having done this...” he trailed off, lazily running his fingertips up and down Ethos’ chest.

“Oh! Ummm, we’re not supposed to tell anyone our names, though.”

“I know that... but maintenance staff don’t have the same restrictions as fleet members proper,” Vicks purred, rolling closer to Ethos and throwing his free arm over him, “Besides, I won’t rat you out.”

Ethos looked up into the face hovering above his own, which wore a charming smile. Locks of messy, reddish-brown hair hung down to nearly brush his own forehead.

He almost couldn’t suppress his own grin as he answered.

“I’ve heard some things about your side business, you know, even if this was our first time actually meeting. As you said, word gets around this ship pretty quickly... How can I guarantee you won’t sell that information?”

Vicks gasped theatrically, leaning back and clasping one hand to his own chest.

“You wound me, sir! I would never think of sharing such a thing, given in confidence!”

“Uh, then, how about a piece of insurance?” Ethos said, still teasing, but uncertain how far to push the joke, “Um, I don’t know your name, either.”

“You know half of it,” Vicks rejoined with a wink.

“But not, uh, not the half you’re asking for,” he said, sitting up a bit to lean back on his elbows so he could better meet Vicks’ stare, “How about you tell me, first?”

“Huh. If you insist.”

“I do.”

“Jake. Short for Jacob, if you want to get all formal. Jacob Vicks.”

“Nice to meet you, Jake,” said Ethos with a smile.

“Come on, don’t hold out on me! You know my name, now. It’s only fair that I get to know yours!”

Ethos thought of how it would have sounded to hear Vicks—no, _Jake_ —say his actual name in the moment. How amazing it would be to hear him cry out something a little more personal than ‘Ethos’. A wash of heat seemed to travel over him, a spark of arousal rising up from his previously sated body already. Something akin to a shiver ran down his spine, tingling.

“Uh… you really don’t have to tell me if you don’t want—”

“It’s Aidan,” he blurted out, unable to resist.

He felt his cheeks flush. He hadn’t told anyone that since... Well, since joining the Alliance.

“Aidan, huh?” Vicks mused, seeming to turn the new information over in his mind for a moment, “I like it.”

Ethos could feel his cheeks burn even more, partly from the blush and partly from the smile that threatened to crack his entire face in two, it was so big. He tilted his head down to look at the mattress, trying to regain some of his composure.

“So, Aidan,” Vicks began, reaching out his hand to drop it on Ethos’ knee, “I don’t suppose you’d like to do this again sometime?”

Ethos steeled himself as he placed his own hand over top of long, calloused fingers. He looked up into the soft, warm eyes of the man it belonged to.

“I think I’d like that, Jake.”

He leaned in, slowly, and was met halfway. Two sets of lips brushed against each other, and two heads of tousled hair tangled together.

END

**Author's Note:**

> For those curious, the “Wedge” that Vicks mentions at the start of this fic is what I’m calling the other maintenance crew worker who shows up on page 2-49 of the comic with Vicks. HamletMachine once mentioned that these two are a little bit of an easter egg reference to a pair of side/background characters from the Final Fantasy video games and Star Wars. You can read more about them in [this article](https://thelifestream.net/reviews-analysis/biggs-and-wedge-the-dynamic-duo/), if you’re interested.


End file.
